by Robert Kozma and Enrique Herrera-Viedma 

The 2026 IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence (CAI) was held on May 8-10 in Granada, Spain. IEEE CAI is joint initiative of 4 IEEE Societies, namely Computer Society, Computational Intelligence Society, Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society, and the IEEE Signal Processing Society. IEEE CAI is an annual sequence of international conferences addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by the strongly interdisciplinary nature of Artificial Intelligence. IEEE CAI is quite unique in the way it is organized by multiple IEEE Society. It is also very appropriate to have such a framework, as AI indeed requires a truly interdisciplinary approach. It worth mentioning, that in a related initiative, these societies also co-sponsor IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence, providing an additional dimension to the collaborations on AI.

The lead organizer position is filled in on a rotational basis. CAI2026 had IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society as the lead organizer and it took place at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Caminos, Canales y Puertos (University of Granada). CAI2026 had an emphasis on the applications of AI that impact industrial technology applications and innovations. CAI2026 helped attendees to learn about new research achievements and breakthroughs in the industry, gain insight into new start-ups and leading AI companies, grow your network, and get inspired by the brightest minds working in the multi-faceted fields. 

The main areas covered by the Conference were arranged in vertical clusters as follows: Healthcare and Life Sciences; Human-robot collaboration; Sustainable and Trustworthy AI; Multimedia, Virtual Reality and Teleoperation; Business Intelligence and Finance; and Generative AI Models, AI in Education and Agentic AI. CAI2026 had about 450 attendees, and about 30% of the attendees were students and young professionals. From the total over 650 submissions, about 52% were accepted.

The conference featured an outstanding lineup of keynote speakers, including Professor Marcos Lopez de Prado, Cornell University, ADIA Lab; Dr. Juan Bernabé-Moreno, IBM Research Europe for Ireland and UK; and Professor G Kumar Venayagamoorthy, Clemson University. In addition to the wide variety of insightful technical sessions, the conference included a diverse range of tutorials, workshops, special sessions, and panels. There were also four Industry Panels organized around topic as AI for E-Commerce: Scaling Beyond Recommendation Engines (coordinated by Kira Shabalin, Amazon), AI for Business (coordinated by Massimo Morini, ADIA Lab), AI, Architecture and City (coordinated by Eduardo Prieto, Building & Architecture Institute), and Responsible, Trustworthy, and Collaborative Human-AI Symbiosis (coordinated by Ming Hou, Defence Research & Development Canada). We also introduced a highly popular competition for AI startups, which could be continued at future CAI events as well.

 A special new initiative of CAI2026 was the inclusion of a Business Track with 5 Roundtables, organized around topics as: 

• AI in Health and Life Sciences (coordinated by Ramon Puigoriol, T-Systems)
• Generative AI and Autonomous Agents in Business (coordinated by Manuel Muñoz Megías, Civica)
• AI and Finance (coordinated by Carmen Gonzalez, CaixaBank), 
• Responsible AI and the EU AI Act (coordinated by Carmen Alba Jiménez, Fidesol) 
• AI in the Agricultural Sector (coordinated by Jose Carlos Calvo Tudela, Nazaries)

In addition to the high-quality professional program, CAI2026 was the place to have unique cultural experiences. Granada blends rich heritage with modern vibrancy, with its stunning beauty and cultural wealth. The cultural experience of the attendees was capped with flamenco dance performance at the conference banquet. CAI2026 in Granada provided a unique opportunity for researchers from academia, industry, and government, to learn about cutting-edge AI technologies, exchange ideas, and develop collaborations for the development of sustainable AI in the future. The next conference in this series will be CAI2027 in Singapore.

Visit the photo gallery for more!